While the United States intends to negotiate directly with Russia to end the war, the United Kingdom said it was ready to send soldiers to Ukraine “if necessary”, before a meeting this Monday in Paris European leaders on the security of the continent.
London plays a leading role by supporting kyiv in the war against Moscow, which “also means that we are ready and willing to contribute to security guarantees for Ukraine by sending our own troops on the ground if necessary” writes British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the daily Daily Telegraph. Keir Starmer also confirmed that he would take part in the meeting convened in Paris on Monday on European security and Ukraine.
Europeans must do “more and better”
French President Emmanuel Macron will welcome “the main European countries” for discussions on “European security”, said on Sunday French diplomacy Jean-Noël Barrot on Radio France Inter.
In the process, the Élysée said that this “informal meeting” would be participated in the afternoon “the heads of government of Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, of the ‘Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark, as well as the president of the European Council, the president of the European Commission and the secretary general of NATO ”. “The objective is to determine what Europeans can do for themselves given the acceleration that we are experiencing in Ukraine as a result of President Trump’s initiatives,” said an adviser to President Emmanuel Macron, stressing that Europeans had to do “more and better” for their collective safety.
The meeting comes at a particularly delicate moment when Donald Trump’s initiatives, who resumed contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin, worry the Europeans. The American president announced this week that he would meet his Russian counterpart in Saudi Arabia to initiate negotiations on Ukraine, where the war triggered by the Russian invasion will enter its fourth year on February 24.
Questioned Sunday on the date of this meeting, Donald Trump replied: “No date has been arrested, but it could be very soon”. While saying that he did not have the project to meet Russian or American officials, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Sunday evening that she had arrived in the United Arab Emirates for a “humanitarian” visit. He said this week that he could also go to Saudi Arabia.
Discussions “behind” Europeans
The Munich security conference, which was held from Friday to Sunday, was marked by a hostile speech by the American vice-president JD Vance against the European Union, accused in particular of not respecting the ” Freedom of expression ”, and by confirmation that the Americans were considering negotiations on Ukraine without the Europeans.
Questioned in Munich on the possible participation of Europeans, the special envoy of Donald Trump on Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, replied: “I am part of the realistic school, I think it will not happen”. Still in Munich, the Ukrainian president urged his allies to strengthen himself to avoid an agreement forged by the Americans “behind” Ukraine and Europe.
Donald Trump “did not mention only once that America needs Europe at the negotiating table,” said Volodymyr Zelensky. “Trump does not like weak friends, he respects strength,” he said. “Only Ukrainians can decide to stop fighting and we will support them as long as they have not made this decision,” said Jean-Noël Barrot on Sunday. The Ukrainians “will never stop until they will be sure that the peace offered to them will be sustainable” and that they will not have security guarantees.
“Useless to dialogue”
“Who will bring the guarantees?” They will be the Europeans, “said the head of French diplomacy, hammering that” yes, Europeans will be in one way or another part of discussions “to end the war in Ukraine.
For Jean-Noël Barrot, “the role of the United States, is to bring Putin to negotiate”, and they think “get there by a mix of pressure and dialogue”. “We have been understood that it was useless to dialogue for a long time. And in my opinion they will quickly understand that only the pressure will be likely to bring Putin to the negotiating table, “he said. The French minister also deemed “unimaginable” that Russia returns to the G7 today, reacting to a declaration in this sense of Donald Trump.
The leaders of French, German, Polish, Italian, Spanish, British and Ukrainian diplomacy met in Paris on Wednesday. They had then learned with amazement that Donald Trump had maintained an hour and a half with Vladimir Putin, in the ban of nations since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The ministers then said in unison that there would be no decision on Ukraine without kyiv or without them, but the Europeans struggle to make their voices heard.